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# Supercharge Your ElevenLabs Voice Agents with BuildShip Tools Voice agents are transforming how we interact with AI, and ElevenLabs is at the forefront of this revolution. But what if you could make these voice agents even more powerful? That's where BuildShip tools come in, allowing you to extend your voice agents with custom integrations that connect to your everyday workflows. In this guide, we'll explore how to enhance your ElevenLabs voice agents with BuildShip tools, giving them the ability to access external data, trigger actions, and provide more valuable responses. ## What are BuildShip tools and why do they matter? BuildShip tools are custom integrations that extend the capabilities of your AI agents. Instead of being limited to conversation alone, your ElevenLabs voice agent can now: - Interact with your Google Calendar - Trigger deep research through Perplexity AI - Research competitors before sales calls - Pull data from project management tools like Linear or Jira - And much more These integrations transform your voice agent from a simple conversational AI into a powerful assistant that can access real-world data and systems. ## Setting up your first tool for ElevenLabs Let's walk through creating a custom tool that allows your ElevenLabs voice agent to fetch a changelog from Linear (though you could easily adapt this for Jira or other project management tools). ### Step 1: Create your agent in ElevenLabs First, head to [elevenlabs.io](https://elevenlabs.io) and create a voice agent. At the bottom of the configuration page, you'll find the tools section where we'll add our custom integration. ### Step 2: Build your tool with BuildShip BuildShip makes it easy to create custom tools through its AI-powered workflow builder: 1. Start by describing what you want your tool to do in plain English 2. Let Compass (BuildShip's AI builder) generate a workflow for you 3. Review the generated plan and click "Start Building" 4. Connect your OAuth credentials for the service you're integrating with (in this case, Linear) 5. Test your workflow to ensure it returns the expected data For our Linear changelog example, we'll create a tool that accepts a date range and returns all the changes (new features, improvements, and bug fixes) that happened during that period. ### Step 3: Connect your tool to ElevenLabs Once your tool is built in BuildShip, you'll need to connect it to your ElevenLabs agent: 1. In BuildShip, go to the Connect tab and select ElevenLabs from the dropdown 2. Copy the tool name and description 3. In ElevenLabs, add a new tool and paste in the details 4. Set the API URL and method (POST) 5. Configure the headers with your BuildShip authentication 6. Add the body parameters (in our case, start_date and end_date) 7. Save your changes > **Note:** Make sure to use camelCase for your parameter names in ElevenLabs to avoid any issues. For a complete step-by-step tutorial, check out [this video guide](https://youtu.be/dH_rPldsUKw). ## Your tool in action Once configured, your ElevenLabs voice agent can now respond to queries like "What happened in Linear last week?" The agent will: 1. Recognize that it needs to use the Linear changelog tool 2. Ask for any missing information (like specific dates) 3. Call the BuildShip API with the parameters 4. Return the formatted changelog information For example: User: "What happened in Linear last week?" Agent: "I can help with that. I will need a start date and end date to generate the changelog. What dates are you looking for?" User: "May 5th to May 9th, 2025." Agent: "Here's the changelog from May 5th to May 9th, 2025: **New Features:** - Sales agent tools - Product agent tools - Marketing agent tools - OpenAI and agent templates - Livestream and community improvements **Improvements:** - User onboarding enhancements - Node and workflow improvements - UX refinements **Bug Fixes:** - Fixed issue where unshipped tools could be added - Added clear warnings to prevent setup confusion" ## Advanced configuration options When setting up your tools, you have several configuration options to consider: ### Wait for output By default, your agent will wait for the tool to return data before responding. This works well for quick API calls, but for longer operations, you can set "wait for output before responding" to false. This allows your agent to acknowledge that it's triggered an action without waiting for completion. ### Customizing your agent Beyond tools, ElevenLabs offers extensive customization options: - System prompts to guide your agent's behavior - First message configuration - LLM selection - Voice customization - Embedding options for web integration ## Practical applications for BuildShip tools with ElevenLabs The combination of ElevenLabs voice agents and BuildShip tools opens up numerous possibilities: ### Customer service Create agents that can look up order status, process returns, or schedule appointments while maintaining a natural voice conversation. ### Personal productivity Build voice assistants that manage your calendar, summarize emails, or prepare meeting briefs with relevant data pulled from your tools. ### Sales enablement Equip your sales team with voice agents that can research prospects, pull competitive information, or update CRM records during calls. ### Development workflows Create voice interfaces for checking build status, reviewing recent commits, or getting project updates from tools like Linear or Jira. ## Getting started with your own integration Ready to supercharge your ElevenLabs voice agents? Here's how to get started: 1. Map out your existing workflows and identify where voice-activated tools could save time 2. Determine which data sources or APIs would be most valuable to integrate 3. Use BuildShip to create your custom tools (either from the community library or by generating your own) 4. Connect them to your ElevenLabs voice agents 5. Test thoroughly and refine based on real-world usage The most powerful tools often come from identifying repetitive tasks in your daily work that could benefit from voice automation. ## Conclusion By combining ElevenLabs' advanced voice technology with BuildShip's flexible integration tools, you can create voice agents that go far beyond simple conversation. These enhanced agents can access your data, trigger workflows, and provide valuable insights through natural voice interaction. The future of AI assistants isn't just about conversation—it's about action. With BuildShip tools and ElevenLabs, you can build voice agents that truly augment your capabilities and help you make better decisions through enhanced information access. What will you build with your newly empowered voice agents?
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